2.16.2007

Read this Editor & Publisher article on how the Washington Times, and conservatives Frank Gaffney and J. Michael Waller, as well as politicians, all got snared in using the following phony Abraham Lincoln quote:

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged."

Now the quote is on thousands of Internet sites.

After I emailed this article out, a friend wrote back:

"Interestingly, Mark Levin last night went beyond the pale, using Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus (which Levin acknowledged was unconstitutional) as a positive example of how strong presidents have dealt with opposition to their conduct of a war. It was unclear whether he was actually advocating that Bush jail congressmen, but he did suggest that, once the Congress approved of a war, they ought to support the war effort or exercise their control of the purse to cut off funds, effectively and officially withdrawing their approval. Anything short of that, he in effect said, would be undermining the executive’s prerogative to pursue victory in a war that they approved, and therefore would be giving aid and comfort to the enemy."